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Waterville Valley Resort: Birthplace of freestyle skiing

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Jan Stearns, Waterville Valley Realty, Waterville Valley, NH

As you're driving along Route 49 and about to enter the village of Waterville Valley, you're greeted by this sign:

Waterville Valley: Birthplace of freestyle skiing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you Google "birthplace of freestyle skiing," you won't find Waterville Valley or resort founder Tom Corcoran mentioned anywhere. Instead, those bigger, glitzier, more famous areas -- Sun Valley & Heavenly Valley -- get all the recognition and glory.

Waterville Valley Resort has always been a bit of a secret to the greater world (shhhhh...that's how many of us like it!). This is apparently the case with the world's understanding of where freestyle skiing was born!

In author Grace Bean's history of Waterville Valley, The Town at the end of the road, she wrote that "Waterville Valley became the first [ski] area to offer freestyle instruction. A freestyle program was started in 1969-70...Freestyle classes were offered at all levels, including the Kids' Ski School..."

Bean also noted that "Tom Corcoran and Doug Pfeiffer, editor of Skiing Magazine, organized the First National Open Championships of Freestyle Skiing at Waterville Valley (February 28-March 1, 1970)...Herman Goellner, an experienced skier from Vermont, was the 1970 winner. The event was so successful that in 1972 two other areas offered freestyle competitions - Vail and Sun Valley."

"...Probably the most excitement engendered for freestyle in Waterville was the presence of Wayne Wong, a remarkable twenty-two-year-old acrobatic skier from Vancouver, BC, who came east in the spring of 1971 to participate in Waterville's National Championships of Exhibition Skiing. He had started skiing at age eleven and continued as a teenager but found it "too expensive." His school friends had talked him into coming to Waterville, just to see how he would do. The student council had collected $200 to send him...He finished third in the Waterville Competition. Within a year he was a national phenomenon. The next winter he returned to Waterville as an instructor and headed up the junior freestyle program. In 1972 he was named by Skiing Magazine as "Hot Shot Skier of the Year."

Well, there you have it. Waterville Valley IS the birthplace of freestyle skiing. Harumph...So there Sun Valley and Heavenly Valley.

Photo below: Wayne Wong

Wayne Wong, Waterville Valley Freestyle Skier

Posted by

Jan Stearns

Comments (5)

Tere Rottink
CoastalVa Realty Inc - Virginia Beach, VA

I am surprised that after your TV interview and the AR feature, I am the first to write a comment.  Here.  Really cool post!

Feb 23, 2010 01:18 AM
Tere Rottink
CoastalVa Realty Inc - Virginia Beach, VA

I am surprised that after your TV interview and the AR feature, I am the first to write a comment.  Here.  Really cool post!

Feb 23, 2010 01:18 AM
Frank Kliewer
Woodinville, WA

Great work Jan, an inspiration to us all in the power of what we are doing. In this kind of market this all helps!

Feb 23, 2010 02:03 AM
Tim Maitski
Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage - Atlanta, GA
Truth, Excellence and a Good Deal

Now I know the rest of the story. Good Day.

Feb 23, 2010 03:06 AM
Jan Stearns
Jan Stearns, Waterville Valley Realty, Waterville Valley, NH - Waterville Valley, NH
Marketing Director for Waterville Valley Realty

Thanks Tere, Frank & Tim for making your way back to the original post and for taking the time to comment!

Cheers,

Jan

Feb 24, 2010 12:12 AM